The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced this Wednesday that it is lifting the sanctions imposed on the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, in the context of the new diplomatic scenario opened between both countries following the capture in January of this year of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has adopted this measure, of which no further public explanations have been offered, beyond that the Venezuelan leader, brother of the acting president Delcy Rodríguez, has been removed from its "blacklist".
Last April, Washington had already annulled the sanctions against who was Maduro's "number two", almost three months after he assumed power. Both he and his sister had been subject to restrictions since September 2018, a decision made during the first term of then-President Donald Trump.
With this lifting, his accounts, properties, and interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction are unlocked, and he is authorized to carry out financial and commercial operations with individuals and U.S. companies or those operating in U.S. territory.
At the time he was sanctioned, Jorge Rodríguez held the position of Minister of Communication of Nicolás Maduro and was included, along with his sister, former Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, and First Lady Cilia Flores, among those identified as helping the leader to "maintain power and solidify his authoritarian government".
This decision comes amid a phase of reconfiguration of ties between Washington and Caracas following the U.S. attack on the Venezuelan capital in early January, which resulted in the detention and subsequent imprisonment of Maduro and Flores.